Mr. Garfield been shot down
Shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield been shot down low

Me and my brother
Was down close to the depot
When I heard the report of a pistol
My brother run out and come back in all excited

And I said, "What was it?" and he said
"It was the report of a pistol" and then he said

"Mr. Garfield been shot down
Shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield been shot down low"

Lord, I knew the President
Was supposed to be at the depot that day
And we just wouldn't believe that he's shot
But we'd run over there

And there was so many folks around
That we couldn't see him
But some lady was standin' there cryin'
And I said, "Ma'am what was it that happened Ma'am?"
And she said

"Mr. Garfield been shot down
Shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield been shot down low"

Well, everybody drifted off
Toward home finally
And they looked like they felt
About as bad as I did

But in a few weeks I heard
That the President was still alive
And I told my brother I said
"Let's get on that train
And go to where he's laid up hurt"

Well, when we got to his big house
Up there I asked the fellow
I said, "Who was it that did it?
Who was it that shoot the President?"

And he said, "It was Charlie Guiteau
That shoot Mr. Garfield" and I said

"Charlie Guiteau done shot down
A good man, good man
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man low"

I heard some fellow there
That had been in the house to see the President
And I sidled up him to listen to what
He was tellin' and he said

"Mrs. Lucretia Garfield was always at his side
In the heat of the day fannin' him when he was hot"
He said that, just that day
The President said to Mrs. Lucretia

He said, "Crete honey
(He called her Crete)
Said, "If somethin' worse happens to me
After awhile you get yourself a good man"

And Mrs. Lucretia said, "James"
(She called him James)
She said, "I won't hear to that now"
She said, "I love you too much" but he said

"You'll make some good man a good wife, good wife
You'll make some man a good, good, good wife"
(Don't pull in single harness all your life good gal
Don't pull in single harness all your life)
That's what he said, "Don't pull in single harness all your life"

Well, a few days later I come back
To where the President was restin'
And it seems everybody was cryin'
The flag was hangin' halfway up
To the flagpole in front of the house

And everybody looked so sad
And I asked a soldier boy there
And I said, "Is, is, is Mr. Garfield?"
And he said, "Yeah, he's gone

Gonna lay him in that
Cold lonesome ground down low
Gonna lay him in that
Cold lonesome ground"

Well, they laid the President
By that long cold branch

Mr. Garfield's been laid down low
Mr. Garfield has been shot down
Mr. Garfield's been shot

Mr. Garfield been shot down
Shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield been shot down low